HELENA, Mont. -- A Lewis and Clark county judge has ordered the state of Montana to release information about state employee compensation.

The ruling comes after the Montana Policy Institute took the state to court back in August.

They first tried to get salary information, including yearly base pay, overtime, bonus pay and retirement figures, back in September of 2010.

However, the Montana Department of Administration refused. According to court documents, the department's deputy director said the state's computerized payroll system was not set up to create customized reports and that such reports would take over $700 to produce.

Yet, when the Montana Policy Institute offered to pay the cost, the Department still refused to release the information.

The judge's ruling now requires the state to provide the Institute with electronic reports of yearly total pay.

Attorneys who represented Montana Policy Institute in the case say it's a ruling that will benefit all Montanans.

"The judge was right that the state has been quibbling over releasing this information that should be public. So, now the Montana Policy Institute will be able to look at all of the salary information and analyze it and provide that analysis to Montanans," says Montana Policy Institute attorney Art Wittich.